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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

It's so meshugenah I could plotz

Today in WTF?!?!?! - Read a pretty entertaining review of Meshuggah's tour appearance at the House of Blues in Houston, TX, and was floored by the last line:

"Random Notebook Dump: On sale at the merch table was an official Meshuggah Affliction T-shirt. That was... odd."

Meshuggah's appeal with the Hot Topic crowd is pretty well established, but Affliction? What possible reason is there for a Meshuggah/Affliction crossover? Are we going to see Quinton "Rampage" Jackson walk into the octagon to "Bleed"? Would a Meshuggah fan really shell out $50 for a shirt that doesn't even have their logo on it? Is there no word for "douchebag" in Swedish?

It turns out Affiction have done shirts for Behemoth and Testament as well. That sound you hear, like icicles falling onto cement? That sound is my cold black heart breaking.

My brother bought me a couple Affliction shirts for my birthday a few years ago... he figured I'd wear anything with a skull, and was probably pleased with himself for finding something that looked like it worked for both him and me. I dumped off one at a thrift store, and wore the other as a work-out shirt, never proudly. Affliction and similar brands took imagery typically associated with metal and made it safe for mall couture; I guess having them sponsor metal bands is bringing it all full circle. Metal + MMA is a no-brainer, so... good job, corporate synergy. But it just feels like "this thing of ours" is being thrown to the strip mall zombies and sold back to us without its soul.

Then again, maybe there's a bright side... with companies like Amazon only too happy to recommend more crap for you to buy, maybe all this capitalist circle-jerking will have the unexpected effect of sneaking this under Christmas trees all over the world. My cold black heart is piecing itself together just thinking about it.